Best Therapist

Statehouse Press Corps

Staff Pick

When The State reporter Gina Smith met Gov. Mark Sanford in the Atlanta airport, confronting him as he got off a flight from Argentina, he made one last attempt at deception. Somewhere on the long road between Atlanta and Columbia, the governor decided he was ready to come clean. Sanford not only confessed to a year-long affair, he went into detail about the long friendship he had with Maria Belen Chapur and the “spark” that transformed the relationship. The press corps, not surprisingly, kept asking questions and the governor kept answering them until he was all but dragged away by friends and staff. A week later, Sanford sat down for a more intimate confessional with Associated Press reporters. This time, it was more about Chapur, now referenced as his soul mate, as well as previous indiscretions with other women. The media attention has died down, and the marriage is over. Now, Sanford just wants his privacy. You can have it — there’s nothing left to tell.